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Homelessness is on the rise for youth in San Diego, bucking national trend

The population of unaccompanied homeless youths in San Diego city and county is now the sixth largest in the country, based on federal data released Thursday.

According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s annual report to Congress, the number of homeless individuals under the age of 25 in San Diego increased to 830 from 625 in 2015.

The 32 percent increase in homeless youth in San Diego came as the population fell in the rest of the U.S. Nationally, the population of homeless youth fell 3.3 percent from 2015 to 2016. The latest numbers moved San Diego from seventh to sixth place among major cities, in terms of homeless youth.

Data show overall homelessness in San Diego, as well most subsets of that population, has seen a gradual decline since 2012, when total homelessness here peaked at 10,013.

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Federal data sets only recently included counts for youth and children, and the new report is the first to show an upward trend in San Diego.

The number of homeless children — those under 18 — has more than doubled since last year, while the population nationwide decreased by 18 percent. Data show San Diego had 59 unaccompanied homeless children last year. In 2016, the population rose to 145.

According to the report, which tracks the number of people sleeping in shelters and streets across the country on one given night each year, more than 78 percent of San Diego’s unaccompanied homeless children are unsheltered. The government classifies unsheltered as a nighttime residence that is not regularly used for sleeping, such as a street, vehicle or park.

Among all major cities, Los Angeles city and county came in first for the second year in a row with 3,086 homeless youths.

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It’s followed by New York City with 1,805, Las Vegas and Clark County with 1,531 and San Francisco with 1,488.

San Jose and Santa Clara city and county came in fifth, ahead of San Diego with 885.

San Diego mirrored national trends in some categories. Homelessness among veterans decreased to 1,160 this year from 1,380 in 2015 — about a 16 percent drop. The U.S. saw a 17 percent decrease in the same group.

Data show the number of chronically homeless individuals (someone who is disabled and has gone without housing for a year or several times over three years), declined on both a local and national level as well.

Other key highlights from the report:

In San Diego, 16.5 percent of homeless people in families with children were unsheltered. The rate in 2015 was 12.3.

San Diego’s homeless veteran population decreased by 16 percent from 2015 to this year, but it’s total of 1,156 still ranks No. 2 in the country behind Los Angeles city and county.

California had the nation’s largest homeless population — 118,142 — and saw a 2.1 percent increase from 2015.

On a national level, the homeless population was 549,928, compared to 564,708 in 2015.

Over the course of the Obama administration, which has targeted veteran and chronic homelessness, the homeless population has decreased by about 80,300 people, or roughly 13 percent.

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